No, really, it's safe here. Honest.
Wednesday, Oct. 01, 2003, 3:09 p.m.

There are days when I could cheerfully hate my grandmother. Monday was one of them. I've mentioned before (and I can't link it. I'm not being lazy this time! For whatever reason, I still can't see my website! So I can't find which post I mention it) that I've got nummular eczema. Primarily, it's on my legs, but I've got small patches on my forearms, as well. I don't often think about it unless it's bothering me. On Monday, one of the patches on my arm had been itching a bit, and, without thinking about it, I'd scratched it quite a bit. So, it was a little red.

Since my new inlaws were coming over last night (yes, there will be more about that, I promise) for the specific purpose of reviewing the professional photos from the wedding, I kind of needed to get them back from Gramma. So she was kind enough to bring the great big bag full of all the pictures back to me at work so I didn't have to trek all over getting them. I really, really appreciated this. Really. Except that when I reached to take the bag, Gramma looked at my arm and shouted,

"What's wrong with your arm!?!"

"It's nothing, Gramma," I muttered, and tried to turn my arm away from her. She grabs my arm and turns it back.

"Oh my gosh!" she shouts, even louder than before. "Is your DISEASE spreading?!?" She says this in such a horrified voice!

See, the thing is, there's construction going on at the hospital, so in order for me to meet Gramma out front, I had to walk around a fence they'd put up as a partition. Which put me uncomfortably close to the emergency room entrance. Not that it would normally be uncomfortable, except when, you know, my grandmother makes it sound as if I've got the bubonic plague. Several patients shot me concerned looks on their way into the emergency room, and there I stood, great big employee badge on my chest, grandly reassuring them of how wonderful our hospital really is. Ugh! You know that feeling, when you wish the ground would just swallow you?? Yeah, that's what I was hoping for. Or, you know, a heart attack or something to strike me dead on the spot. At least then, I wouldn't have died of embarrassment!

last - next